Crystalline perfection and mechanical investigations on vertical Bridgman grown Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) single crystals for thermoelectric applications

High efficiency thermoelectric materials plays a vital role in power generation and refrigeration applications. Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) is one among them. In the present work single crystal of bismuth telluride was grown using vertical Bridgman technique. The phase of grown crystals was analysed using a powder X-ray diffractometer. Quality of the grown crystal was assessed by using high resolution X-ray diffractometer and observed that it is fairly good. Further mechanical investigations on grown crystal was carried out using nano-indentation technique and various mechanical properties like hardness, stiffness and Young's modulus were evaluated. Observed results clearly indicate its suitability for thermoelectric applications